M ay 2015

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2014

Houlton as a privately-owned fourth generation family company takes its corporate and social responsibilities regarding the needs of our employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers and other stakeholders very seriously.

We are proud of the voluntary actions we take over and above minimum legal requirement compliance which balance the company‟s long term economic sustainability alongside our social and environmental responsibilities.

The Directors and Staff are proud to report our achievements through 2014 in relation to People, Marketplace, Communities and the Environment, as well as our targets for the future. 135 YEARS TRADING 1879-2014

THEN

NOW 2

Page 2 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT PEOPLE:

 Hull Building Safety Group Best Site Safety Performance Award to Principal/Main Contractor 2013/2014 – first position, for the third year running!  Maintained accreditation for Investors in People – 14 years of investing.  Apprentices – continued to recruit and train apprentices, 3 new apprentices started in 2014; 11 apprentices now employed plus 1 apprentice successfully completed their apprenticeship during the year. Continued commitment to developing the skills of young people in the company.  Offered full time employment to a Hull College of Further Education ICT NVQ Level 3 student following a successful 8 month work experience one day a week placement. HBSG Best Site Safety Award  Success for Houlton trainee at the Hull College‟s Construction and the Built Environment Awards Ceremony. Houlton‟s Josh Hunter won Best of Year Brickwork Apprentice on a NVQ Level 2 Brickwork Course, Most Outstanding Student on an Apprenticeship Course and Student of the Year on a Work Based Learning Course. He also won 1st place in the Senior Section of the Yorkshire region of The Guild of Bricklayers Competition.  Employed a further two Business Administration apprentices.  Presentation of two retirement gifts to long serving employees; with 47 years‟ service and 14 years‟ service respectively with the Company.  Presentation of watches to two long service employees for completing 25 years continual service with the company. Trainees  Marked 135 years trading with photograph of employees children to re-enact Houlton archive photograph.

Retirement Party Yorkshire Bricklayer of the Year

Retirement Presentation

Long Service Awards Retirement Presentation 3

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT Page 3 MARKETPLACE:

 Our YORbuild projects employment and skills plans for 2014 have given:  299 Apprentice working weeks (2013 = 239)  71 People progression into employment (2013 = 26)  14 People work experience (2013 = 8)  25 School visits/workshops (2013 = 24)  Support for YORhub 4 Good Fund which aims to support economic regeneration across the Yorkshire and Humber region. The 4 Good Fund provides grants of up to £10,000 to community projects. A small percentage of the YORbuild frameworks‟ project fees are contributed to the Fund and contractors also have the option to offer a contribution in time of up to 50% of their total Fund contribution for any project in order to build up a “Time Bank”. We used this Benefit in kind of over £5,000 from 4 projects for Driffield Methodist Church School Room refurbishment project, one of 25 projects awarded with cash, benefit in kind or a combination of both for 2014 from the 4 Good Fund. £5,000 was allocated by YORbuild, but the generosity of our supply chain raised this to over £7,500 in actual value of work done. Our thanks go to CE Pittaway Decorators Ltd, K Binks (Heating) Ltd and Cottingham Joinery Co Ltd  Hull Trinity House Academy project scooped the Best Refurbishment Award for Design at the Esteem Hull Building Schools for the Future Programme awards ceremony.  Continued commitment to buy local to Hull area – impacted by out of town work and consequently buying local to those locations, e.g. Billingham, Doncaster, Glasgow, Skipton.  Client Constructionline feedback scores continue to average of 9 out of 10 for product, service, defects, cost, time and safety. (Scores 9 to 10 classed as totally satisfied).  Houlton Siteline published Summer 2014 updating stakeholders of recent and current business activity.  Continued updating of company website with integration of social media links for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Trinity Best Refurbishment Award Houlton Siteline Summer 2014

Teen Tech Workshop Leadership for Life Award Scheme 2014 Main Sponsor 4

Page 4 CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT COMMUNITIES:

 Support for Humberside Police Lifestyle 2014 Night Challenge by providing temporary toilets and lighting when 150 youngsters aged 13-17 undertook an overnight 13 mile hike with various challenges set along the way.  School construction site safety talk to primary school pupils adjacent our projects – Clifton Primary School, Flamborough Primary School, Marfleet Primary School and Mersey Street Primary School. Clifton Primary School  Supported North Lincolnshire Council Careers Event attended by over 1400 students and more than 70 exhibitors.  Supported the Lincs2Guidance Careers Event held in the Grimsby Auditorium and attended by over 500 young learners during the day long event. Houlton teamed up with the CITB to provide practical insight into construction industry careers.  Main sponsor again for the Leadership for Life Award Scheme 2014, organised by Hymers College. The Awards evening in June was the culmination of 8 months of hard work for the Year 10 pupils from Andrew Marvell School, Sirius Academy, Winifred Holtby and Hymers College. Pupils spent the October half term on an Outward Bounds course at Fulbarrow Hall in Windermere and returned to form three groups to undertake local community projects. At the awards evening the children described their projects which helped the Preston Road Community Centre, Mountbatten primary School and Willersley House Residential Home.  Further „Maths in Construction‟ workshop in July, this time at Kings School, Pontefract – another YORbuild project. Arranged 3 separate one hour sessions with 8/9 year students (13 & 14 year olds) at the school showing them how maths is used in the construction industry with Flamborough Primary School estimating, quantifying, taking-off and scaling drawings.  Continued to run school site safety poster competition for site signage – Marfleet Primary School and Walkington Primary School.  Illuminated Houlton Christmas tree and goodwill message attached to the scaffolding at our Hull City Council Humber Street project to help bring festive cheer to visitors and traders in the street over the Christmas period.  Two staff members supported YORbuild Framework Management Team at TeenTech event in March at Doncaster Racecourse. A puzzle-based game was organised, where the children in teams had to answer questions correctly to gain a piece of a puzzle. It was followed by a question and answers session with young learners and designed to challenge and inspire young people about career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and maths.  We signed up to the Hull Responsibility Deal in May 2014 – a partnership between Hull City Council Environmental Health and the Department of Health. Partners are required to make pledges to Hull Responsibility Deal under four headings: Food Pledges; Health at Work; Physical Activity and Alcohol. Marfleet Primary School  Continued to produce and issue Houlton Site Newsletters on various projects to keep local residents, client‟s staff, etc. informed of current and future work on site as well as contact details for any queries.  Continued support of Rotary Club of Hull Humber Bridge Half Marathon by supplying portable office for officials and timekeepers.  Work Placements for School work experience pupils – Malet Lambert School, Sirius Academy, Winifred Holtby School, Wolfreton High School and Hull College.  Houlton Open Sites programme in conjunction with our client Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust welcomed 16 students from Hull Construction College to our Head Office for their Health and Safety Workshops.

 Houlton attended the 2 day 'STEM In Action Event' organised by HETA attended by a wide Mersey Street Primary School variety of companies each in different industry sectors along with almost 30 primary schools from across the region. Proud to continue our support for the Friends of the Ferens Art Gallery and sponsor their regular newsletter for the next four years.

Walkington Primary School 5

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT Page 5

COMMUNITIES continued:  In December Houlton staff supported The Humber Training Group with donations to the two local food banks (North and South Humber). As well as the foodstuffs collected in the office, our clients United Biscuits and KP Snacks both kindly made donations of bis- cuits, snacks and crackers to this worthy cause,11 boxes in total.

Foodbank Donations

Careers Event Careers Event

ENVIRONMENT: Houlton Open Sites Programme

 Yard waste re-cycling – 96% re-cycled last quarter.  Continued registration of projects with Smartwaste, 15 live or completed sites in 2014 generating 6,163 cu m of waste by volume of which 93% was diverted from landfill and 2,859 tonnes of waste by tonnage of which 100% of waste was diverted from landfill.  ICT improvements including increased provision of smart phones and tablet computers to improve efficiency across the business. Continued to recycle surplus ICT hardware with local QA approved service.  Environmental Management System certification maintained with BM TRADA, who also certify our Health & Safety and Quality Management systems to improve auditing and performance.  Sustainable construction methods incorporated in projects including solar water heating, ground source under floor heating and photo-voltaic panels.  Continued refurbishment programme to reduce energy use for site offices, meeting rooms and canteens with improved insulation, sensor operated lighting, thermostats, and UPVC double glazed windows.  Renewal of our Plant Division‟s workshop space heater to reduce energy bills. A new technically advanced gas fired unit heater was fitted with high efficiency axial fans. This heater delivers the highest possible standards of energy efficiency and performance.  Also renewal of our Plant Division‟s workshop roof to improve insulation and reduce energy bills. The single skin roof was re-covered with a double skin insulated roof with 260mm of glass fibre insulation, and the roof-lights replaced with triple glazed GRP.  Improved blown insulation to cavity walls of offices to lower our heating bills, lower wear and tear on our boilers and reduce global warming and climate change.  Replacement of external floodlighting to Offices with low energy LED fittings.

Yard Waste Re-cycling Results New Workshop Roof New Workshop Boiler 6

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY REPORT

FUTURE:

At Houlton whilst proud of our achievements we are aware that there is always more to do and issues to address. Endeavouring to engage with all stakeholders at all levels we are establishing foundations and devel- oping strategies for working with charities, education, tackling unem- Geo. Houlton & Sons Ltd. ployment, and creativity. We therefore continue to take our corporate and social responsibility very seriously and incorporate it into all as- pects of our work and when planning for the future.

Hyperion Street Hull Targets for 2015 include the following:- HU9 1BD  Continue to recognise CSR as an important part of our operations and always try to reach out to local people and be a caring neighbour in our communities. Phone: 01482 320486  Review our Environmental Management, Health & Safety and Quality Manage- Fax: 01482 228441 ment systems to consolidate into an integrated management system. E-mail: [email protected]  Yard waste re-cycling – improve from 96% to 98% over next 12 months.  Continue to implement waste minimisation and energy reduction measures on our sites and office including greater use of BRE Smartwaste reporting tool.  Top three score in Hull Building Safety Group Safety Awards.  Employ a further two apprentices in the summer.  Continue to nurture home-grown talent in the business.  Publish Houlton Siteline update and Houlton Site Newsletters.  Continue supporting YORbuild framework initiatives including YORbuild 4 Good Fund.  Promote and support the 2015 company employee selected charity.  Support Humberside Police Lifestyle 2015, including Night Challenge and Rock Challenge.  Continue to provide work placements to local schools and colleges.  Complete training as identified in the company Training Plan developed from the IIP appraisals due mid 2015.

THE FUTURE Quality Construction Built On Tradition

Visit our website for the latest news www.houlton.co.uk